tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:/feedJustin Keller2016-11-17T21:40:09-08:00Justin Kellerhttps://justink.svbtle.comSvbtle.comtag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/leveraging-capital-using-robinhood-gold2016-11-17T21:40:09-08:002016-11-17T21:40:09-08:00Leveraging capital in the stock market using Robinhood Gold<p>The mobile app brokerage <a href="https://robinhood.com/">Robinhood</a> <em>(I am not affiliated)</em> recently released <a href="https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/214681823-Introducing-Robinhood-Gold">Gold</a> which allows you to <a href="https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/213262686">borrow capital</a> to invest into the market. This type of loan in finance is traditionally called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_(finance)">margin</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p><em>Note: Use of Robinhood Gold buying power is considered high risk and not suitable for all investors. Make sure you understand your margin maintenance requirement and the implications of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_(finance)#Margin_call">margin call</a>. See the official Robinhood <a href="https://d2ue93q3u507c2.cloudfront.net/assets/robinhood/legal/RHF%20Margin%20Account%20Disclosure.pdf">margin disclosure statement</a> for complete details.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Robinhood Gold is different than traditional margin. Instead of charging a fixed percent interest <em>(this is how nearly all brokerages do it)</em>, Robinhood is charging a flat monthly fee for lumps of additional capital.</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Monthly Fee</th>
<th>Additional Buying Power</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$10.00 / mo</td>
<td>$2,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$15.00 / mo</td>
<td>$3,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$25.00 / mo</td>
<td>$6,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$40.00 / mo</td>
<td>$8,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$50.00 / mo</td>
<td>$12,000</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Let’s break down the annual fee and fee percentage of each lump of capital:</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Annual Fee</th>
<th>Additional Buying Power</th>
<th>Annual Fee Percent</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$120.00 / yr</td>
<td>$2,000</td>
<td>6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$180.00 / yr</td>
<td>$3,000</td>
<td>6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$300.00 / yr</td>
<td>$6,000</td>
<td>5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$480.00 / yr</td>
<td>$8,000</td>
<td>6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>$600.00 / yr</td>
<td>$12,000</td>
<td>5%</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>So essentially Robinhood is offering capital at an average of 6% annual fee, excluding the value at their $25 and $50 a month levels borrowing $6,000 and $12,000. The question then becomes, can you invest that additional capital and get annual gains greater than 6%? While I am sure professionals in finance may have some clever instruments <em>(perhaps bonds, currency, commodities)</em> I’m going to cover two simple strategies.</p>
<h3 id="strategy-i-etfs_3">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#strategy-i-etfs_3"> </a>Strategy I. ETFs</h3>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange-traded_fund">Exchange-traded funds</a> typically track an index such as the S&amp;P 500 or Nasdaq Composite. My personal favorite ETFs are the tried-and-true <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=0&amp;chdd=1&amp;chds=1&amp;chdv=0&amp;chvs=maximized&amp;chdeh=0&amp;chfdeh=0&amp;chdet=1489302985839&amp;chddm=98141&amp;chls=IntervalBasedLine&amp;q=NYSEARCA:SPY&amp;ntsp=0&amp;ei=nPXEWJGAGtTGjAGwiaCABA">SPY</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=0&amp;chdd=1&amp;chds=1&amp;chdv=0&amp;chvs=maximized&amp;chdeh=0&amp;chfdeh=0&amp;chdet=1489303023001&amp;chddm=98141&amp;chls=IntervalBasedLine&amp;q=NASDAQ:QQQ&amp;ntsp=0&amp;ei=7fXEWPjGBYayjAG925mYDA">QQQ</a>.</p>
<p>Let’s look at the price returns for the last 10 years of both ETFs.</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th></th>
<th>2007</th>
<th>2008</th>
<th>2009</th>
<th>2010</th>
<th>2011</th>
<th>2012</th>
<th>2013</th>
<th>2014</th>
<th>2015</th>
<th>2016</th>
<th>2017 (as of 6/8/17)</th>
</tr>
<tr style="color: #093;">
<td><strong>SPY</strong></td>
<td> 5.14%</td>
<td style="color: #d14836;">-36.81%</td>
<td>26.37%</td>
<td>15.06%</td>
<td>1.89%</td>
<td>15.99%</td>
<td>32.31%</td>
<td>13.46%</td>
<td>1.25%</td>
<td>12.00%</td>
<td>8.48%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="color: #093;">
<td><strong>QQQ</strong></td>
<td>19.02%</td>
<td style="color: #d14836;">-41.73%</td>
<td>54.70%</td>
<td>19.91%</td>
<td>3.38%</td>
<td>18.12%</td>
<td>36.63%</td>
<td>19.18%</td>
<td>9.45%</td>
<td>7.10%</td>
<td>19.50%</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>I personally prefer QQQ because it tends to offer larger annual returns over SPY but with a greater risk in potential downside. For example, In the 2008 crash QQQ lost 41.73% where as SPY lost 36.81%.</p>
<h3 id="strategy-ii-high-to-medium-dividend-paying-se_3">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#strategy-ii-high-to-medium-dividend-paying-se_3"> </a>Strategy II. High to medium dividend paying securities</h3>
<p>Dividend paying stocks essentially pay you cash every quarter that you hold a security. You can use dividend screeners such as <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/dividend-stocks/">Nasdaq dividend stocks</a> or <a href="http://www.dividend.com/">Dividend.com</a> to find securities. Annual dividend returns range from over 20% <em>(typically extremely volatile and high risk)</em> to less than 1%.</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p><em>Note: The ETFs from above, SPY and QQQ pay a dividend (as of 6/8/17) of 1.86% and 0.84% respectively.</em></p>
</blockquote><h1 id="conclusion_1">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#conclusion_1"> </a>Conclusion</h1>
<p>At a 6% annual fee, Robinhood Gold costs less for capital than the average 8.25% margin rate of nearly all other online brokerages. With all that said, I am going to signup for Gold and add buying power into my account to leverage an existing security that I already own. The security I picked has solid price growth potential and currently yields a 4.72% dividend offering a nice balance.</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<h2 id="full-disclosure_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#full-disclosure_2"> </a>Full Disclosure</h2>
<p>As of <strong>3/12/2017</strong> I am no longer using Robinhood Gold or margin.</p>
</blockquote>tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/stripe-put-my-startup-out-of-business-before-i-launched2016-10-20T14:51:34-07:002016-10-20T14:51:34-07:00Stripe put my startup out of business before I launched<blockquote class="large">
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> I launched a new startup <em><a href="https://elasticbyte.net">Elastic Byte</a></em> in January that helps companies plan, build, and manage cloud infrastructure and DevOps. <a href="https://elasticbyte.net/contact.html">Contact us</a> if that sounds interesting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For the last four months I’ve been traveling the world as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_nomad">digital nomad</a> <em>(Stockholm, Romania, Prague, Berlin, Brussels, Dublin)</em> and working full-time on my 3rd startup, Charge Control. The entire premise was to piggyback on <a href="https://stripe.com">Stripe</a> and allow Stripe users to specifically create rules to prevent and reduce fraud and chargebacks. Yesterday my high hopes and dreams were shattered when Stripe released <a href="https://stripe.com/radar">Radar</a>.</p>
<p>First, let me congratulate Stripe. They have a track record of building amazing product and Radar is no exception. Radar not only allows users to create specific rules based on a plethora of inputs, they also have machine learning that automatically blocks high risk transactions.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ldczqtjmzm42zq.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ldczqtjmzm42zq_small.png" alt="stripe-radar.png"></a></p>
<p>At this point after reviewing Radar, it does not make sense to continue working on Charge Control. Stripe’s offering is superior and included free in their platform. There may be a market for integrating with <a href="https://www.braintreepayments.com/">Braintree</a> instead, but how long until they release their own integrated and fully featured fraud offering? Doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>I figured since I now have nothing to work on, still brewing new startup ideas in my head, and wandering around San Francisco, I would share what I had completed for Charge Control.</p>
<h1 id="the-landing-page-emvery-rough-was-only-a-mock_1">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#the-landing-page-emvery-rough-was-only-a-mock_1"> </a>The landing page <em>(very rough, was only a mockup)</em>
</h1>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/iumr9llb3v72ca.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/iumr9llb3v72ca_small.png" alt="charge-control-mock.png"></a></p>
<h1 id="the-charge-control-stack_1">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#the-charge-control-stack_1"> </a>The Charge Control stack</h1>
<p><strong>charge-control.js</strong> was the front-end JavaScript that users add into their existing checkout page. It essentially just monkey patches <code class="prettyprint">Stripe.card.createToken()</code> to call our api first and return either accept or reject based on user defined rules. charge-control.js was vanilla JavaScript supported in most browsers <em>(tested back to IE9)</em> and built with <a href="https://webpack.github.io/">webpack</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Backend:</strong> Node.js 6 using <a href="http://restify.com/">Restify</a>. Database was <a href="https://www.rethinkdb.com/">RethinkDB</a> <em>(painful when they announced they were shutting down)</em> with the great RethinkDB ORM <a href="https://github.com/neumino/thinky">Thinky</a>.</p>
<p><strong>UI/Web interface:</strong> Had not started development, but was going to go with <a href="https://facebook.github.io/react/">React</a> and probably <a href="http://getbootstrap.com/">Bootstrap</a> or <a href="http://milligram.github.io/index.html">Milligram</a>.</p>
<h1 id="business-model_1">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#business-model_1"> </a>Business model</h1>
<p>Pricing was to be charged per successful request <em>(accept)</em> and similar to <a href="https://siftscience.com">Sift Science</a> in terms of a handful of cents per request. Reject requests were to be free.</p>
<h1 id="what39s-next_1">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#what39s-next_1"> </a>What’s next</h1>
<p>I have absolutely no idea. If there is interest, I suppose I can open source both <em>charge-control.js</em> and the api backend on GitHub. No new problems or startup ideas have caught my interest. For now, I will take a bit of time and evaluate what I want to do next. Maybe some more traveling.</p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/case-insensitivity-with-os-x-using-git2016-09-14T17:32:08-07:002016-09-14T17:32:08-07:00Case-insensitivity with OS X using git<p>Today, I got bitten by OS X being case-insensitive while using git. I had a directory <code class="prettyprint">models</code> with JavaScript files in it named <code class="prettyprint">account.js</code>, <code class="prettyprint">project.js</code>, and <code class="prettyprint">event.js</code>. I decided that the models should be capitalized. Sure, no problem using trusty <code class="prettyprint">mv</code>.</p>
<p>When I looked in git though, no changed files. WTF? I even tried changing another file and committing. Looking in the web GitHub file browser, the files were still all lowercase.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/irspda2sgcdyta.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/irspda2sgcdyta_small.png" alt="rage.png"></a></p>
<p>Turns out the solution is to use <code class="prettyprint">git mv -f</code>.</p>
<pre><code class="prettyprint">➜ models git:(master) git mv -f account.js Account.js
➜ models git:(master) ✗ git mv -f project.js Project.js
➜ models git:(master) ✗ git mv -f event.js Event.js
➜ models git:(master) ✗ git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD &lt;file&gt;..." to unstage)
renamed: account.js -&gt; Account.js
renamed: project.js -&gt; Project.js
renamed: event.js -&gt; Event.js
</code></pre>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qhqgsaywgjkk7q.jpeg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/qhqgsaywgjkk7q_small.jpeg" alt="baby-win.jpeg"></a></p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/open-letter-to-mayor-ed-lee-and-greg-suhr-police-chief2016-02-15T09:38:02-08:002016-02-15T09:38:02-08:00Open letter to SF Mayor Ed Lee and Greg Suhr (police chief) <p>I am writing today, to voice my concern and outrage over the increasing homeless and drug problem that the city is faced with. I’ve been living in SF for over three years, and without a doubt it is the worst it has ever been. Every day, on my way to, and from work, I see people sprawled across the sidewalk, tent cities, human feces, and the faces of addiction. The city is becoming a shanty town… Worst of all, it is unsafe.</p>
<p>This holiday weekend, I had my parents in town from Santa Barbara and relatives from Denver and Rochester New York. Unfortunately, there was three separate incidents and countless times that we were approached for money and harassed.</p>
<p>The first incident involved a homeless drunken man in the morning coming up to their car and leaning up against it. Another bystander got frustrated with the drunken man, and they got into a heated pushing and shoving altercation.</p>
<p>The second incident occurred as we were leaving <a href="http://www.tadichgrill.com/">Tadich Grill</a> in the financial district. A distraught, and high person was right in front of the restaurant, yelling, screaming, yelling about cocaine, and even, attempted to pull his pants down and show his genitals.</p>
<p>Finally, last night Valentines, I was at <a href="https://www.sundancecinemas.com/">Kabuki Theater</a> inside watching a movie. About two hours into the film, a man stumbled in the front door. He proceeded to walk into the theater, down the aisle to the front, wobbled toward the emergency door, opened it, and then took his shirt off and laid down. He then came back into the theater shielding his eyes from the running projector. My girlfriend was terrified and myself and many people ran out of the theater.</p>
<p>What are you going to do to address this problem? The residents of this amazing city no longer feel safe. I know people are frustrated about gentrification happening in the city, but the reality is, we live in a free market society. The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city. They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn’t have to worry about being accosted. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day. I want my parents when they come visit to have a great experience, and enjoy this special place.</p>
<p>I am telling you, <strong>there is going to be a revolution</strong>. People on both sides are frustrated, and you can sense the anger. The city needs to tackle this problem head on, it can no longer ignore it and let people do whatever they want in the city. I don’t have a magic solution… It is a very difficult and complex situation, but somehow during <a href="http://www.sfbaysuperbowl.com">Super Bowl</a>, almost all of the homeless and riff raff[1] seem to up and vanish. I’m willing to bet that was not a coincidence. Money and political pressure can make change. So it is time to start making progress, or we as citizens will make a change in leadership and elect new officials who can.</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p>Democracy is not the last stop in politics. In-fact, the order of progression according to Socrates via Plato in the Republic goes: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and finally tyranny. Socrates argues that a society will decay and pass through each government in succession, eventually becoming a tyranny.</p>
<p>“The greater my city, the greater the individual.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>[1] I want to apologize for using the term riff raff. It was insensitive and counterproductive.</p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/online-sports-books-a-security-nightmare2015-04-12T16:53:01-07:002015-04-12T16:53:01-07:00Online sportsbooks... A security and fraud nightmare <p>I’m a bit of a sports fanatic, especially for my local San Francisco Giants and 49ers. However <a href="http://www.ncaa.com">march madness</a> is my favorite, it’s like a religious holiday. Brackets, upsets, cinderellas, and those buzzer-beaters. Ohhhh my!</p>
<p>At any rate, I enjoy putting money on some of the madness games, and asked my friend who is an avid sports gambler which site he uses. He quickly responded <a href="http://www.5dimes.eu">5Dimes</a>…</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p>“They have the best lines, most proposition bets, and nice tiered bonuses.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first yellow-flag <em>(i’m not even at red yet)</em> is their payment processor <em>(where you provide your credit card deposit)</em>. It is hosted by a completely obscure 3rd party, and seems to rotate frequently. I pressed on though, as I had some great picks. The second yellow-flag, none of their site is encrypted via https. This definitely made me uneasy, but, gotta get those picks in.</p>
<p>I do have to give their betting platform some credit though, while not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, they have lines for most every possible sport and game. Proposition bets, parlays, futures.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/8ovgx6z2yey0pa.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/8ovgx6z2yey0pa_small.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-04-12 at 2.23.40 PM.png"></a></p>
<p>After everything was said and done, and the nets cut down, it was finally time to withdraw my winnings. Here-in, comes the rub. There is no link in the interface to withdraw <em>(only deposit)</em>. So, I fired up their friendly chat and asked to withdraw my account balance. A 5Dimes representative responded with, please provide your password in the chat window so we can verify your account. The first of many red flags has risen.</p>
<p>They are asking users to provide their account password in a plain text <em>(non-encrypted)</em> chat window. Second, I can almost guarantee that they are not hashing passwords, and all employees on the other end of their chat can view any account password.</p>
<p>Deep breaths… Not that big of a deal for me, since I use a randomly generated password for each site (<a href="https://agilebits.com/onepassword">1Password</a>), but others are not so savvy. Anyway, 5Dimes agreed to withdraw my account <em>(via PayPal payout)</em>, and said they would be sending an e-mail with further details. Shortly the e-mail with the details arrived, and I couldn’t believe they could be so incompetent.</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p>1- Please refer to the attached authorization form you need to fill out (handwritten) in order to process your payment request.</p>
<p>2- Along with the authorization form make sure to include a copy of your ID (driver’s license or passport) and a copy of your Visa card ending in V-8921 (front of card only).</p>
<p>3- Also a copy of a utility bill or bank statement is required to validate your current address.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That is right, they require that you fill out a form <em>(asking for the full credit card number)</em>, take a photo of your ID and credit card, and provide a bank statement, just to issue a withdraw. Not to mention, what does my original credit card used to fund the account have to do with receiving a PayPal payment? All of this sensitive information needed to be sent over unencrypted e-mail. I proceeded, but refused to provide the full credit card number on the form, and masked the full credit card number in the photo sent.</p>
<p>A 5Dimes representative then responded, that I must provide the full credit card number on the form, and a full photo of the credit card to process the PayPal withdraw. This is utter nonsense. Nevermind the fact they don’t need any of these details for a PayPal transfer, but they also don’t need the entire card number to verify a card. They can use the last 4, expiration, card type, and issuing bank, and have enough data points to verify a given card.</p>
<p>I pushed back and forth for a few e-mails, but they would not budge. In order to withdraw the money that I fairly won, I would have to send them my credit card number and a picture in a plain text e-mail.</p>
<p>Reluctantly, I caved in, and sent the e-mail off with my credit card details exposed. Once the PayPal process was initiated, I called my credit card company and reported the card lost, and had them re-issue a new card.</p>
<p>I’m not much for a conspiracy theorist, but I find it hard to believe that these online sportsbooks, who transact tens of millions of dollars a year, don’t know about common security practices. Their blatant lack of security and best practices almost makes me believe they intentionally do it so perhaps they can sell their users identities and even worse credit cards to black markets. I obviously don’t have proof of this, but it would not surprise me.</p>
<p>In closing, online sportsbooks are a market ripe for innovation and change. Just like <a href="https://stripe.com">Stripe</a> brought online payments to the masses in a secure and trustworthy fashion, a legit, venture backed online sportsbook could do the same. The only thing preventing it, is US laws. Personally, I say legalize online gambling, and lets regulate it so it is secure, safe, and a reputable business.</p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/china-we-need-to-talk2015-02-10T23:25:10-08:002015-02-10T23:25:10-08:00China... We need to talk.<p>As of late, all we seem to hear about is China hacking. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/02/10/forbes-web-site-was-compromised-by-chinese-cyberespionage-group-researchers-say/">Forbes</a>. <a href="http://time.com/3698417/china-anthem-hack-healthcare/">Anthem Healthcare</a>. <a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2390944/chinese-hackers-launched-unsubtle-attack-on-microsoft-outlook-servers">Microsoft</a>. Why is it that the citizens of China are so naughty and malicious on the internet?</p>
<p>As the founder of a US based startup <a href="https://commando.io">Commando.io</a>, I just looked through all of our paying customers, and not a single one is based out of China. Yet, a quick grep of our logs revealed that most attacks against Commando.io originated from Chinese IP addresses.</p>
<p>I know it can be dangerous to paint with broad strokes, but the fact that no revenue comes from China, only attacks, and potential compromise, leads me to seriously consider geoip blocking all requests from China.</p>
<p>Why is it that China is such a bad participant on the internet?</p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/being-a-founder-with-a-speech-impediment2014-04-25T15:04:25-07:002014-04-25T15:04:25-07:00Being a single founder with a speech impediment<p>I’ve been working on <a href="https://commando.io">Commando.io</a> full-time for the last six months. I’ve put everything I have into the company. My life savings <em>(twice over)</em>, waves of constant stress, and declined lucrative offers at other bay area startups. Commando.io is my lifes work. I truly love working on it.</p>
<p>I’ve had a speech impediment <em>(stutter)</em> ever since I was in grade school. In casual conversation I am usually fine, in-fact when I tell people I have a stutter they are usually surprised. Until recently it has been a complete non-factor with my startup because I’ve been able to communicate all electronically. I consider myself to have decent marketing and design chops in addition to an engineering background. I’ve been able to grow Commando.io to thousands of users and started making revenue this month.</p>
<p>However, lately I’ve been taking meetings with investors, doing phone calls with potential enterprise deals, and going to meetups and social events to recruit and spread the word about us. My speech impediment get’s noticeably worse when I am talking about my startup or pitching to investors. In fact, there have been times where the majority of the meeting was spent stuttering instead of pitching or selling. I’ve noticed the amount of stress and anxiety I have is directly proportional to the amount that I stutter. For whatever reason, phone and video calls are the worst. It is supremely frustrating to have all the answers, know the vision and strategy for the company, but not be able to articulate the words out of my mouth. I feel like I am at a disadvantage compared to all other founders when speaking.</p>
<p>Are there any other founders out there with a speech impediment? What are some strategies to help when pitching to investors or doing phone calls with potential customers? When I was younger I went to a speech therapist, which seemed to help, but now I can’t devote the hours and frankly the costs.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7649325">Discussion on Hacker News</a></p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/the-shower-epiphany2013-10-23T10:53:45-07:002013-10-23T10:53:45-07:00The shower epiphany<p>I can with ultimate confidence tell you that I do my best thinking and brainstorming in the shower. It’s something unknown, a mystery that will elude scholar’s, but somehow complex things and abstract ideas become clear and concise in the shower. It just all makes sense somehow.</p>
<p>On many occasions I’ve been stuck on a problem with my <a href="https://commando.io">startup</a>, thinking about optimizing a block of code, or what new feature should be created. I then hop into the shower, and then while feeling completely tranquil and transparent, have profound Eureka moments. If only I could get a full eight hours a day of my superhero shower time, I would be unstoppable.</p>
<p>It just goes to show that most often the brain is overwhelmed with too many thoughts, background tasks, and noise. If you remove these distractions, and filter your brain to a smaller focus, its truely astonishing the results that can be achieved.</p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/my-hand-written-notes-from-startup-school-20132013-10-19T21:33:09-07:002013-10-19T21:33:09-07:00My hand written notes from Startup School 2013<p>Terribly sorry about the horrendous handwriting. My penmanship clearly needs a bit of work.</p>
<h2 id="phil-libin-founder-evernote_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#phil-libin-founder-evernote_2"> </a>Phil Libin / Founder, Evernote</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nl1sz0vqnrr4w.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nl1sz0vqnrr4w_small.jpg" alt="page-1"></a></p>
<h2 id="dan-siroker-founder-optimizely_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#dan-siroker-founder-optimizely_2"> </a>Dan Siroker / Founder, Optimizely</h2><h2 id="ron-conway-partner-sv-angel_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#ron-conway-partner-sv-angel_2"> </a>Ron Conway / Partner, SV Angel</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ex7yvtkzi6feag.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ex7yvtkzi6feag_small.jpg" alt="page-2"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/zmuys6uy7qc1qg.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/zmuys6uy7qc1qg_small.jpg" alt="page 3"></a></p>
<h2 id="chris-dixon-partner-a16z_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#chris-dixon-partner-a16z_2"> </a>Chris Dixon / Partner, A16z</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/lmfonwtsnx2kda.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/lmfonwtsnx2kda_small.jpg" alt="page 4"></a></p>
<h2 id="diane-greene-founder-vmware_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#diane-greene-founder-vmware_2"> </a>Diane Greene / Founder, VMWare</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/zznx2x5zmbykw.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/zznx2x5zmbykw_small.jpg" alt="page 5"></a></p>
<h2 id="balaji-srinivasan-founder-counsyl_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#balaji-srinivasan-founder-counsyl_2"> </a>Balaji Srinivasan / Founder, Counsyl</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nxw2lhglhkpzha.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nxw2lhglhkpzha_small.jpg" alt="page 6"></a></p>
<h2 id="chase-adam-founder-watsi_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#chase-adam-founder-watsi_2"> </a>Chase Adam / Founder, Watsi</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/uoocrrzyajmoxg.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/uoocrrzyajmoxg_small.jpg" alt="page 7"></a></p>
<h2 id="jack-dorsey-founder-twittersquare_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#jack-dorsey-founder-twittersquare_2"> </a>Jack Dorsey / Founder, Twitter/Square</h2>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/0y96rwiciqseaa.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/0y96rwiciqseaa_small.jpg" alt="page 8"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/a95thrgvvmgzq.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/a95thrgvvmgzq_small.jpg" alt="page 9"></a></p>
<h2 id="mark-zuckerberg-founder-facebook_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#mark-zuckerberg-founder-facebook_2"> </a>Mark Zuckerberg / Founder, Facebook</h2>
<p>None…</p>
<h2 id="nathan-blecharczyk-founder-airbnb_2">
<a class="head_anchor" href="#nathan-blecharczyk-founder-airbnb_2"> </a>Nathan Blecharczyk / Founder, AirBnB</h2>
<p>None…</p>
tag:justink.svbtle.com,2014:Post/tesla-model-s-and-the-three-laws-of-robotics2013-10-03T23:52:42-07:002013-10-03T23:52:42-07:00Tesla model S and the three laws of robotics<p>On Wednesday there was a claim of a nearly brand new <a href="http://www.teslamotors.com">Tesla</a> model S catching on fire. See the video posted on YouTube:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0kjI08n4fg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0kjI08n4fg</a></p>
<p>Speculation was rampant that the highly touted and supposedly insanely safe battery pack was the culprit. The rumors did not go over well with <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3ATSLA&amp;ei=yN0XWNj8PMe-igKEo7eoDw">TSLA</a> stock, which also by chance got downgraded earlier in the morning by Baird.</p>
<p>Tesla quickly fired back though, with an official statement of:</p>
<blockquote class="large">
<p>As soon as the vehicle collided with the object, it started running diagnostic tests. It found a problem and told the driver to pull over and immediately get out of the vehicle. After that, the vehicle started to smoke, and then the fire started. The design of the Model S purposely vented the fire to the front and side of the vehicle so that the driver compartment was not compromised.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Did everybody fully digest that? The model S, a piece of machinery, performed a self diagnostic after hitting debris in the road. On its own, it determined that is was not safe to continue, notified the driver to pull over and exit the vehicle, saving the passenger.</p>
<p><strong>The vehicle’s last act of life was to save a human.</strong></p>
<p>Prolific science fiction writer Isaac Asimov came up with the notion of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics">three laws of robotics</a> <em>(made famous in the movie iRobot)</em>.</p>
<p>They are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li> A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.</li>
<li> A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.</li>
<li> A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.</li>
</ol>
<p>The Tesla model S demonstrates quite clearly it follows the first of the three laws. The question then becomes, does it follow the rest?</p>